


Around the Edge of Society

by deadlikemoi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1700s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Background Ben/Rose, Colonial Virginia, Don't make daddy mad, F/M, Lots of background character death in chapter 1, Mentions of historical issues, Miscarriages, Plantation owner Ben, Post-Revolutionary War, Rape alluded to in Ch 2, Slavery, Solo children, War Veteran Ben, governess Rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-04-23 05:53:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19144876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadlikemoi/pseuds/deadlikemoi
Summary: The year is 1798, just outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. Benjamin O. Solo is spending another day tilling the soil and straining his back with the help of Finnius, a freedman who lives on a small crop of land at the edge of his family's property.Ben inherited the large house and 750 acres of land from his mother. Leia and Han purchased Carter's Grove when the made the voyage across the ocean. It was always so large that it was almost the fourth member of the family, but his mother never did things small.Ben was raised by a progressive mother who instilled the importance of education in her son, but then the British invaded and he took up the cause under the banner of a new country.Ben was always a patriot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [erney007](https://archiveofourown.org/users/erney007/gifts).



> The prompt was: Historical/Modern AU, whatever is fine: Governess/Nanny Rey is hired to look after child(ren) of grumpy veteran Kylo/Ben who thinks he isn’t in good term with any human being below the age of 20. (Actually he has such good instinct with kids, he just doesn’t realize it.) His kid(s) could be either biological or adopted. 10 years age gap between Rey and Ben would be great! Fluffy fluffy (I love smut but any rate is appreciated!)
> 
> I hope this stacks up to what you were hoping for! 
> 
> My plan is to put out shorter chapter as frequently as possible. 
> 
> Please be aware that there is a lot of death in the first chapter, but this is all foundational information for the setting of the story. 
> 
> There will be mention of some heavy issues related to the time period like the mention of slavery in this first chapter. I really want to do this in a sensitive way, so please let me know if you think there should be an update in the tags.

The year is 1798, just outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. Benjamin O. Solo is spending another day tilling the soil and straining his back with the help of Finnius, a freedman who lives on a small crop of land at the edge of his family's property. 

Ben inherited the large house and 750 acres of land from his mother. Leia and Han purchased Carter's Grove when the made the voyage across the ocean. It was always so large that it was almost the fourth member of the family, but his mother never did things small. 

Ben was raised by a progressive mother who instilled the importance of education in her son, but then the British invaded and he took up the cause under the banner of a new country. 

Ben was always a patriot. 

He purchased Finnius' freedom himself when he returned from the war with shrapnel wounds to his side and the line of a bayonet strike on his face. 

His father died some year past and his mother held on to her poor health long enough to introduce him to Rose and see them wed. 

Their lives were happy enough, though it was never easy with Ben's injuries and Rose's refusal to allow him to shoulder the hard labor owning such a tract of land required. 

There was absolutely no chance of purchasing their labor from those repulsive beings at the slave houses. Even purchasing the indenture of someone sent from England for that sole purpose was too much for him, and the thought kept him awake through the night. 

It was only the show of blood after the loss of their second miscarried child that brought an end to her toils. The pain was ultimately overshadowed by joy and love as she gave birth to their three children; she became no stranger to the stress and hard work childbirth brought. 

Life went on for one year, then two, then three, and four too. 

Asa was walking and talking by the time Lydia came along. Their youngest son, Thaddeus, was what could be considered a surprise, but loved all the same. 

In the span of eight years, Ben was married with three children. 

It certainly was not the life he expected for himself as he had every intention to join the church like his uncle before the country was embroiled in war. 

Still, he took to the idea of becoming a lawyer. Rose demanded that he bring truth to his parents' wishes and apprenticed with local lawyers until he was able to enter the Virginia bar. 

Nothing made him happier than harvesting the tobacco with his own hands after a day spent arguing before the court. 

With this, they were afforded a life of relative luxury and traveled more than most couples could ever dream to. 

Their trip to Philadelphia in 1793 coincided with an outbreak of yellow fever that decimated the city. Everything continued on as it always did until Rose woke in a sweat, three days later, and never awoke from the fever dream she fell into that night. 

Suddenly, he was a widower and every person he met approached with a frown and sad eyes. 

Most of the local citizenry knew him from one way or another; whether from the purchase of goods from his plantation or the use of his services to resolve issues, Ben was the crutch upon which the town shouldered its burdens. 

With each day he found he had not the strength to rise from his bed or leave his house at all, the area slowly fell back into the routines of old. Where once the progressive abolitionist cause was front and center, now planters who rested their laurels on the backs of others were fomenting the need for slavery above all else. 

The men who stayed home while younger men fought and died where happy enough to sit on their covered porches with sweet tea in hand as others made them rich. 

Out in the fields, covered in dirt and sweat, is where he first sees the horse that gallops at a steady stride to the turn in the road that leads only to his front door. 

He is expecting no visitors— they never have visitors unless something terrifying has happened to make them call a doctor. Once in awhile his closest neighbors, Poe to the west and Chewie and Maz to the east, will stop by to check on the children. 

If it weren't for Asa, Lydia, and Thaddeus, Ben doesn't know how he would've survived the years without Rose. 

Maybe their marriage wasn't built on love like Leia and Han's, but they had a friendship that surpassed his expectations, the little he had. 

Now he knows loneliness like it shares the bed with him every night.

As the children grow, Ben realizes that he knows nothing of being a good father or what they need aside from food and a reminder to wash behind their ears. 

Ben was an adult from the age of five and going to war aged him faster than a normal, natural progression. 

The rider pulls up on the reins enough to bring the horse to a stop at the edge of the dirt road that tees off with arable land on either side with the entrance to the house straight ahead. 

He expects to see a messenger or one of the field hands from a local plantation when the rider lowers their hood, but instead he is greeted with the long dark brown locks of a woman he just barely recognizes. 

"Hello?" He calls out as he begins the trek out of the field. 

"Benjamin Solo?" Her eyes are cast down, looking more at her own feet than anywhere else. 

By the time he is standing in front of her, she has nearly wrung the apron on her skirt into tatters. 

"I am Benjamin Solo. Who is asking?" The only way he can possibly catch her eye is by dropping down to his knees, but he refuses to do that as the likelihood of getting up is slim. 

Finally, her eyes rise from below, and he is shocked to see tears welling up in them. "Mister Chewie sent me. It's Maz, she is—" she chokes off a sob and breathes deeply, "she's dying. Please come with me." 

During the war, General Washington tasked him with infiltrating the British army, working his way up through the ranks, and turning spy for the revolutionary cause. Much progress was made before a turncoat in the Continental Army betrayed him and gave him one of his most noticeable scars before he managed to make it out with his life. 

He was a witness to many difficult moments through the years of his life, but nothing prepared him for the pain of watching life slip through Maz's fingers and leave her for good. 

He swipes at the few tears that trail down his cheeks. "Goodbye, old friend." Maz was his second mother, the one who raised him more often than not when his own parents were too busy with their own lives and respective causes. 

"Let me know about a funeral, please, Chewie." 

Ben nods to the both of them and attempts to leave, but finds himself trapped beneath the older man's giant hand where it rests on his shoulder. 

The Scotsman is large, perhaps even oversized which is truly something because most people think Ben is the biggest of them all. "I have a favor to ask." 

Once again, no one appears able to meet his eyes. 

His accent shines through as he lowers his voice to barely a whisper. "I have no use for Rey now that Maz is gone. She's educated, Maz saw to that, and I know you have need of a governess for the children. Consider it, please." 

Chewie was his father's closest friend and a partner in crime, though they always maintained some kind of gift at getting themselves out of certain situations. 

"Come see the children soon. They miss you greatly." 

His three children are slowly growing up, there is no doubt about that, and he is now at a point where he can no longer sustain their education on his own. 

Perhaps it is a good idea to hire this young woman, this Rey, to give them the educate and attention they deserve. Ben wishes them a good night and ponders the idea the entire walk home and much of the night after.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little rough so please forgive me for any errors you may find.
> 
> There is a mention of sexual assault that is mostly alluded to in this chapter. You can jump from **Armitage** to "Chewie dropped every schilling he had for her."
> 
> I'm going heavy on the tags and warnings so everyone is aware of what might be in this story.

Rey can't remember anything before the age of seven. That first memory, as bright as if it happened only yesterday, is of an older woman helping Rey sign her name to an indenture. Of course she had no idea what this piece of paper really means.

"This will be good for you, Rey." She was down on her knees to be at eye level with the young girl. 

Was she her mother? Caregiver? Aunt? Another poor soul resigned to the work houses?

There are no answers in these memories, but they still haunt her almost every day. Most mornings she wakes up with the sloshing of the ocean waves still heavy in her gut. 

Every second of the perilous journey from England to the colonies was tattooed on her frail skeleton. 

Never enough food, barely any water, and the fear of every grown man who eyed her like a delicious after dinner dessert brought her exhaustion when there was no one to depend on but herself. 

Rey built up her armor, every single day, until she felt like stone as she exited the ship and walked her way on to American soil. 

That was the high, and the low swiftly came to bear. 

A man named Brendol Hux, a portly, ginger haired heathen from the motherland, held her contract and took joy in degrading her every way in which he could.

She was forced to spend most of the day on her knees, scrubbing every square inch of his floor, and he'd walk through it all with mud on his shoes, so she had to start again the next morning. 

It always appeared as if he wanted to see some reaction from her, as if it pleased him to see her blanch or raise an eyebrow or frown at his antics, but she knew any verbal response would mean the switches came out. Her back was still heavily scarred from the first time. That was a mistake she would consider before she spoke out of turn again.

Someone up above smiled down on her when the man was struck down by that cold, black heart of his. Unfortunately for everyone who knew him, it was a swift end and far too good for such a monstrosity. 

But life had never been kind to Rey. Not in the way that most people expected, so she wasn't necessarily surprised when the man's grown son appeared less than a week later. 

If Brendol was the devil then the son he created was something even worse. 

**Armitage.**

The name still strikes fear in her. 

So many years later, she still worries about turning a corner and seeing him standing there, his face pointed and pale, and there is absolutely nothing left in her body except for blood and air that rushes out as she imagines running away from him. 

Rushing away from him yet again.

Into the tall expanse of human being that is Mister Chewie. He saved her that day, down by the docks, where Armitage brought her after she refused to simply lay there and let him do whatever he pleased. He managed to scare her into silence once, but once was all he was going to get from her. 

Chewie dropped every schilling he had for her, and though she could never have known at the time, he was her savior. Her big, hairy, shouting Scottish savior. 

He and Maz owned a smaller parcel of land than their neighbors, but they were a kind couple and frequently had any number of people inside their home, asking for help. 

Maz was fearless. 

More than once, the local planters were shocked to see Rey reading or writing during the normal hours when the expectation was that she should be toiling away on important chores like the washing or polishing silver or scrubbing the floor until her hands bled. 

It was because of Maz that Rey became educated, and the older woman depended on her when her eyesight went and her mind swiftly followed. 

She prepared them for the end, though it wasn't easy or painless. 

"You'll be a proper lady soon," Maz said as Rey transcribed a letter to a friend in another county. Chewie never properly learned how to read or write himself, and all the attempts they made to teach him only ended in frustration and tears. 

Rey couldn't bring herself to argue then. It didn't matter, in the long run, and she wanted Maz to depart with a clear mind. 

Now that she is gone, Rey finds herself stuck, figuratively and literally. 

Chewie seems to not need her in ways he did before, and she knows he is dealing with grief in his own ways, but it still hurts to be so secluded even when they are in the same house. 

It is on a sojourn to the local market that she remembers Ben Solo. On that day, when they sat next to each other so Chewie could clutch Maz's other hand, he kept reminding her to call him Ben. 

"My mother called me Benjamin whenever I was due for a whipping, so I'd prefer to not have those memories coming back if I can help it." He was joking with her, that much was obvious, but the slight upturn of his mouth took her by surprise. 

She tried to explain that it wasn't proper, but he wouldn't hear it, and it appeared there was no arguing with the man. 

Later, as they extinguished all the candles and oil lamps, Chewie startled her with the soft cadence of his voice. "Ben is a good man. I was close with his father for a long time. Life hasn't been too kind to the Solo family." 

Those words prickle at the back of her mind as she watches him walk along with three children in tow. Their dark tangles of hair all match their father, but only the oldest boy has features that she would recognize as belonging to Ben. The other two must take after their mother, and what a beauty she surely was. 

"Hello, sir." 

All four turn to take her in, and the children glance back at their father, waiting for a reaction of some kind. 

"Ah, Rey. Hello. Children, this is Rey. She lives with Chewie and Maz." The lack of reaction from the children tells her that they don't yet know what happened with Maz. "This is Lydia, Asa, and Thaddeus. Say hello to Mistress Rey." 

"Hello, Mistress Rey," they all say together, though the youngest does little more than babble. 

She feels Ben's eyes on her as she walks away, and only once she's far enough away does she look back. He appears pensive and tired. 

The look on his face echoes through her mind for the rest of the day. Chewie hasn't set her any tasks for days now, and the down time is driving her near the edge of insanity.

It has been a week since Maz's passing and days since she cleaned away the last few touches that remind her of the only woman who ever acted like a mother to her. She stashed them away in a couple of boxes that now lay under her bed. 

That very morning Chewie tore through each and every room, screaming and crying, until he found what he needed. 

A few breaths in and out and he is composed enough to try at a conversation. "We need to discuss a few things." He ushers her in to the dining room where she dusted, swept, and wiped everything down recently enough. 

"It has become increasingly obvious to me that there is no longer a use for you here. I am sorry to say it, but it is the truth. Maz would never forgive me if I continue to let you toil away endlessly when there are better uses for you." He hands her a letter that is still sealed by a wax seal in its envelope. 

There is no indication that he has made any attempt to read its contents.

She does not recognize the writing, but the sadness on Chewie's face pushes her on. 

_Dear Mistress Rey,_

_I have spent much time considering the options and feel it would be best for all parties if you might agree to become a governess for my children. I continue to fail to know or understand my children when I am both parent and educator._

_I beg that you take pity on us all and accept this post._

_Chewie speaks very highly of your skills and talents. I know his words to be true as, for many years, I was educated by the same woman who taught you._

_Should you decide to accept the position, you will earn a salary in addition to room and board._

_I understand that it is highly irregular to teach boys in the home, but I wish for no expense to be spared and require that my daughter receive the same lessons as her brothers._

_I look forward to your response._

_Your obedient servant,_

_Benjamin Solo_

_I felt it necessary to use my full first name by way of signing this letter as it can be considered a contract._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, any errors you may see are mine and mine alone. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!

Everything sounds the same as it did yesterday, but there is another member of the household today. Ben still can't quite believe that she accepted his offer, that Rey is now under his employ. 

Mistress Rey. 

He must remember to not appear too familiar now that she lives in the house. Nothing spreads like wildfire than a new dash of gossip. 

"I miss you dearly," he says to the space in bed that was always occupied by Rose. He has only known his own touch since he buried his wife, and the longing hits him full bore suddenly. 

If there is anything he has perfected, it's waiting. He may spend the rest of his life waiting for something that will never come. 

A sound, like the clinking of two heavy bells, finally rouses him from his bed. Perhaps the children thought they might start the day by preparing breakfast for everyone. He is not ready for another mess of that scale. 

Instead of one or two dark heads barely visible above the counter, he finds the newest occupant busy scrubbing at one of the pans he washed just the night before, a dozen or so eggs freshly plucked from the coop in the side yard. 

"I thought I cleaned that yesterday." 

The scream she lets out tells him he is lighter on his feet than he anticipated. 

"Goodness me!" Her small form is bent down into the basin with her arms wrapped around her abdomen in some attempt to both shield herself and protect against anything that might come.

Ben takes a step back, putting feet of distance between them, and raises both arms to where they are visible from her vantage point. "I am sorry. I had no intention to scare you. I am used to Asa making a mess in the mornings if he wakes before I do." 

Her breathing starts to regulate away from the large puffs of air she was taking in before. "It is fine, no trouble." She sets the pan to warm over the stove as she pours in water and enough eggs for each of them to have at least two for breakfast. He watches her work with some fascination before he interrupts her process again. 

"I do not require you to cook, you know. I did only hire you to teach and educate my children on all the important lessons." A light dusting of pink color blooms on her cheeks, but she continues to work as if he said nothing at all. 

"I do not know how to simply sit and do nothing," she shrugs her shoulders and moves around touching this or that, always in motion. 

Soon enough, all the children are awake and each is staring up at Rey as if she is filled with wonder, virtue, and sweets all at once. 

Ben spent days setting up the library to her specifications and purchasing new items so that when it came time to begin her first lesson, everything was just how she wanted it. The room now holds multiple chairs situated around a large circular table, a whiteboard, and enough paper that he could write all the legal knowledge stuffed inside his head and still have some paper to spare. His own desk sits against a wall where she sets a few books down from their rest of their brethren on the shelves.

"Have a good day," he says as he makes for his room to finish dressing for the day. 

Tearing apart his home office requires that he make the journey to town to spend the day in his actual office receiving clients. 

His head is bent low over a stack of briefs, scribbling notes in the margins, crammed in between sentences, or along the top or bottom wherever he can fit in additional words that end up smudged after his hand slides across still wet ink, and everything else in the world could simply evaporate and he'd be none the wiser. The rush of air that comes with the opening of the building's door is just enough to make papers flutter and tear his gaze up. 

"Mister Dameron, how does today find you?" 

"Well, Mister Solo, as well as can be expected, I assure you." He wrings his hands in a hat he tore off his head before entering. Ben can read the nervous energy in every tense line of his body. 

The office shows signs of being long since abandoned; papers and book litter almost every surface and there is no spare seat available. In a rush of long limbs, Ben is up and moving piles to the bookshelf, the mantle over the fireplace, and on top of teetering piles already on his desk. Perhaps it is time to look for some help around here as well. 

The other man acquiesces and takes the seat that faces Ben's desk. 

"Please, Poe, tell me what ails you so." 

Poe and Ben grew up as neighbors, maybe not friends exactly, but something close that straddled the line between acquaintance and companion. Poe went off to join the Continental Army and was lucky to walk away with his life after being stationed under General Charles Lee at the Battle of Monmouth. 

"You know the man who bought the two farms south of mine?" He asks as his eyes stay glued to the floor. 

Ben nods, sure he has heard many speak of the newcomer to the area. "Heard of him, but yet to meet him or know his name." 

"A name is not as important as his recent business. When we returned from the war, you set off a series of events that had many of us freeing our labor and rightfully paying for their work. That is a hard battle won here in Virginia, I do not need to tell you. But this man..." He sees Poe tense and swallow down what must be a lump in his throat, "I am so mad I can barely get the words out. Lando rushed to see me this morning and caught Jessika in a fright. Many of the freedmen in the area feel this man is a threat to their very lives. I have not seen him around my farm yet, but I understand that Finnius was in town with Lando when they ran across him. Dastardly, he said, just the air around him." 

Over the next thirty minutes, Ben hears multiple accounts of stories told to Poe and they all paint a rather unflattering picture. 

"I take it that your fears are the same as mine," he asks once Poe has finished. He is on his feet in an instant, kicking up dirt from the floors as he ambles about. "No one will threaten the work we have done, the blood we spilt, and absolutely no man will shackle these God fearing people back to the land they were released from!" 

========

The sun is already set by the time he makes it back home. A simple conversation with Poe turned into multiple pints of ale at the pub where many of the towns people amassed to tell tales to one of the few lawyers who might help with their new problem. 

Ben is known for not easily backing down from a fight whether it is with words or dueling pistols, his stubbornness knows no bounds. 

His gait is exaggerated by the amount of alcohol in his system; the first taste only whetted his thirst and one became many became more. With help at home, he allowed himself this escape. It was never so difficult to get his oversized body in through the door, but today is one of many firsts. 

"Sir!" Rey whisper-shouts as she rushes to help him inside, carrying a large amount of his weight where she is tucked under his right arm. Finnius and Chewie are also somehow sitting around his table and he has too many questions for his addled brain to comprehend and articulate. 

"What brings you today?" 

Both men exchange a worrisome look and Rey heaves a great sigh from her position at the basin. It all adds stress to his shoulders and acid in his gut. 

Finnius begins slowly. "Chewie came to speak with me. He mentioned Mister Dameron was to see you. There is trouble brewin'." 

A glass of water is put in front of him, but Rey remains standing behind him while he drinks it down in large gulps. "No one could give me a name. Do you know?" 

"I know it." She stands ramrod straight, the height of her shoulders not failing to give away how tense she is, and Ben twists in his seat to view her as she speaks. "Armitage Hux." 

Pain. 

The scent of his sweat mingling with the crimson blood that pours from the wound in his face. 

A rush of adrenaline that guides him through the full camp of British red coats on his exit out and away to safety. 

Quickly enough, his grasp on reality shifts from stable to tenuous, and Rey's hand on his shoulder is all that keeps him in his seat and in the present. 

It takes him a moment or two to recognize that her hand is shaking almost as badly as his own. Their eyes connect in a meaningful glance that surpasses words. 

The bone chilling alarm that greeted him at home wasted away the rest of the alcohol still coursing through his body. He is nearly sober by the time Finnius and Chewie leave for home. The hugs and comforting touches they share with his new governess isn't lost on him. 

"Are you well?" 

"Well enough, sir." 

She is abuzz with activity, flitting around the entire room to put cookware away and shove food in front of him on the table, but his body will accept nothing more, and he catches the edge of her skirt and pulls her around to stand before him. "Speak to me, Rey." 

In an instant, every barricade she built up tumbles down into the dust and he sees her, truly, for the first time. 

"Have you heard tell of my life before Chewie and Maz?" 

He shakes his head no, and she breathes deeply before she continues on. "I came from England on an indenture. The man who held my contract was horrible. Every day was a nightmare that I never woke from. He died in his sleep and his son took over the estate. His son was— is a disreputable human being. Absolutely detestable. He took far more liberties than any man should." 

She does not need to say the words for him to pick up her meaning. 

"He gave me this," Ben says through his clenched teeth, his fingers drifting over the scar that travels from under his eye to deep in his chest. It gives him a rather roguish air, but marked him for life. "I should have killed him."

The roll of tears down her cheeks take him by surprise; he missed each sign of her sorrow until it all ran over. With a shake of her head, she quiets all the anxiety in the room and runs her fingers over the back of his hand where it rests on the thick wooden dining table. "Nonsense. He surely would have taken you with him and where would that leave us all? We grow from these trials, they make us mightier than we may ever have been." 

Her words echo around in his mind long after they part for their respective bedrooms. Sleep stays away that night, and he falls into his memories instead. 

Armitage Hux has come to town. The man who betrayed the Continental Army with his defection to the loyalist cause and cost many their lives as he rooted out spies they placed throughout the ranks. 

As God as his witness, his children will never know the horror of a world that that man would imagine and create. 

If he does anything with the remaining years of his life, Ben Solo promises this to himself, his wife, his parents, and Rey.


End file.
